This invention relates to a device which automatically stamps a date (and time) on a piece of notepaper on which hand written notes are taken.
People make hand written notes for many purposes. For example, in the course of a telephone conversation, it is common to jot down the notes reflecting the substance of the conversation. It is very often necessary to refer back to notes and in many cases the date on which the note was taken is significant. Sometimes, the time at which the note is written is also meaningful. If the notetaker fails to indicate in hand the date and time this critical information can be lost, sometimes irretrievably.
The present invention provides a device which holds a pad of notepaper and which automatically stamps the date (and time) on each piece of paper as it is removed from the device. In effect, the user""s hand-written notes are automatically date stamped.
In accordance with the invention, a pad of note paper is contained within a device which includes a mechanism for keeping track of the date and time, and a printing mechanism which can be actuated to print date and time information received from the clocking mechanism. The device which contains the paper includes a means which is responsive to the removal of an individual sheet of paper from the device for actuating the printing mechanism. Thus, each piece of paper removed from the pad is stamped with the date on which it was used.
In the preferred embodiment, a thermal printer is used and the paper includes a special thermally responsive ink in a location corresponding to the printer location. Printing takes place sequentially as the paper is manually removed from the device.